International journal of legal medicineFeb 24, 2006

Measuring LSD and its related compounds in blood, urine, and eye fluid using advanced mass spectrometry

Psychedelic Science Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 30, 2026

Abstract

A method has been developed that achieves limits of quantification of 20 pg/ml for LSD and nor-LSD in blood, urine, and vitreous humor.

The method enables the simultaneous detection of LSD, iso-LSD, nor-LSD, and their metabolites in various biological fluids.
It utilizes liquid/liquid extraction and liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry for analysis.
No significant interference or ion suppression was detected for the substances of interest.
Interassay reproducibility for LSD at 20 pg/ml and 2 ng/ml in urine was measured at 8.3% and 5.6%, respectively.
Mean recoveries for LSD across different fluids ranged from 50-107%.

Simplified

A method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), its epimer iso-LSD, and its main metabolites nor-LSD and 2-oxo-3-hydroxy LSD in blood, urine, and, for the first time, vitreous humor samples. The method is based on liquid/liquid extraction and liquid chromatography-multiple mass spectrometry detection in an ion trap mass spectrometer, in positive ion electrospray ionization conditions. Five microliter of sample are injected and analysis time is 12 min. The method is specific, selective and sensitive, and achieves limits of quantification of 20 pg/ml for both LSD and nor-LSD in blood, urine, and vitreous humor. No significant interfering substance or ion suppression was identified for LSD, iso-LSD, and nor-LSD. The interassay reproducibilities for LSD at 20 pg/ml and 2 ng/ml in urine were 8.3 and 5.6%, respectively. Within-run precision using control samples at 20 pg/ml and 2 ng/ml was 6.9 and 3.9%. Mean recoveries of two concentrations spiked into drug free samples were in the range 60-107% in blood, 50-105% in urine, and 65-105% in vitreous humor. The method was successfully applied to the forensic determination of postmortem LSD levels in the biological fluids of a multi drug abuser; for the first time, LSD could be detected in vitreous humor.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View Full Text ↗

Measuring LSD and its related compounds in blood, urine, and eye fluid using advanced mass spectrometry

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the psychedelic science brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the psychedelic science brief